Kinds of Sentences and Their Punctuation

A sentence may be one of four kinds, depending upon the number and type(s) of clauses it contains. Review: An independent clause contains a subject, a verb, and a complete thought.

A dependent clause contains a subject and a verb, but no complete thought.

1. A SIMPLE SENTENCE has one independent clause.

Punctuation note: NO commas separate two compound elements (subject, verb, direct object, indirect object, subjective complement, etc.) in a simple sentence.

2. A COMPOUND SENTENCE has two independent clauses joined by A. a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so), B. a conjunctive adverb (e.g. however, therefore), or C. a semicolon alone.

Punctuation patterns (to match A, B, and C above): A. Independent clause, coordinating conjunction independent clause. B. Independent clause; conjunctive adverb, independent clause. C. Independent clause; independent clause.

3. A COMPLEX SENTENCE has one dependent clause (headed by a subordinating conjunction or a relative pronoun ) joined to anindependent clause.

Punctuation patterns (to match A, B, C and D above): A. Dependent clause, independent clause

B. Independent clause dependent clause C. Independent, D. Independent nonessential dependent clause, essential dependent clause clause.

clause.

4. A COMPOUND-COMPLEX SENTENCE has two independent clauses joined to one or more dependent clauses.

Punctuation patterns: Follow the rules given above for compound and complex sentences. A compound-complex sentence is merely a combination of the two.